Quinceañera
Available from the 9th January 2007
SYNOPSIS
From the gay filmmakers/partners who made The Fluffer comes this superb tale set in their
own Echo Park, LA neighborhood. Winner of both the Dramatic Audience and Jury Awards at
the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and deservedly so, this crowd-pleaser deftly balances gay
and straight storylines while presenting an engaging tale about sexuality, culture clashes
and gentrification.
REVIEW
Magdalena (fresh-faced newcomer Emily Rios) is preparing for her exciting, slightly chaotic
quinceañera, the traditional Latino rite of passage that signals a fifteen-year-old girl’s
passage into womanhood. But the young, religiously devout girl reveals to her conservative
family that she is pregnant and, shamed by the news, her parents quickly ostracize her.
She seeks refuge with her Uncle Tomás (Chalo González) in his small garden apartment in
Los Angeles’ Echo Park, where her cousin Carlos (Jesse Garcia) lives as well. Carlos is quite
honest about being gay and exudes a sexy working-class machismo that catches the eye of
a gay couple, one British and the other a television producer, who have moved into the
neighborhood. The couple quickly seduce the tough but tender Carlos into a steamily
depicted ménage-à-trois, but when the young Latino begins to bond emotionally with one
of the men, the situation gets tricky and could jeopardize the family unit that Carlos,
Magdalena and Uncle Tomás have created.
Taking their cues from the British “kitchen sink dramas” of the late 1950s and early '60s,
which looked at the conflict between working-class and middle-class characters, openly gay
directors Richard Glatzer (Grief) and Wash Westmoreland (The Fluffer) along with gay
Executive Producer Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) have crafted a fresh, spirited and
accessible story that pulls no punches in depicting gay characters who are flawed,
especially the gay couple who use Carlos for their sexual pleasure. Rios’ and Garcia’s
charismatic presence, along with González’s (who was in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch)
warm portrayal as their accepting uncle, brings authentic and believable emotions as the
drama unfolds around them. Quinceañera wears its queer sensibility proudly on its sleeve
and its sincerity shines through with an appealing cast, its frank depiction of sexuality and
sweet, gentle humor. (English and Spanish with English subtitles)
Lewis Tice
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